very short funny clip mocking tRump. Hugs. Scottie
The only way to stop an existential threat is through alliances, so picking between Trump and Biden should be a no-brainer…right? Jordan Klepper asks John Bolton how screwed America is if Trump wins again in Jordan Klepper Fingers the Pulse: Moscow Tools premiering May 20 at 11:30pm ET/PT on Comedy Central. #DailyShow#JordanKlepper#Russia
I thought Jon’s part was incredibly spot on and correct. Plus very funny. The man has the touch of comedy for sure. That part ended about 14:13 when the other guy came on. Him I did not find funny even though he had a couple good lines. Hugs. Scottie
Jon Stewart discusses conservative cancel culture following Harrison Butker’s controversial commencement speech, and Michael Kosta weighs in on Nikki Haley reluctantly endorsing Trump, Trump’s bogus assassination claims, and the close of the hush money trial…with no testimony from Trump. #DailyShow#Comedy
A new name has popped up in the chatter about Donald Trump’s potential pick for vice president: Sen. Tom Cotton. He’s reportedly high on the list because of his “experience and the ability to run a disciplined campaign.” As a running mate, the Arkansas senator “would carry relatively little risk of creating unwanted distractions for a presidential campaign already facing multiple legal threats,” according to The New York Times.
But it sure seems risky to put a no-holds barred racist, sexist creep on a debate stage with Vice President Kamala Harris. Cotton traded in his dog whistle for a racist bullhorn years ago, and has made headlines with his outrageous statements and behavior.
Here is a mere sampling of Cotton’s lowlights:
Attacking Ketanji Brown Jackson
During the confirmation hearings for Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, Cotton teamed up with the other deplorables on the Senate Judiciary Committee to harangue the nominee about everything from QAnon theories to her history as a public defender, attempting to paint her as an adherent of “critical race theory,” as if that’s a bad thing.
Cotton really sunk to the bottom, however, when he all but called Jackson a Nazi sympathizer during a floor speech. “You know, the last Judge Jackson left the Supreme Court to go to Nuremberg and prosecute the case against the Nazis,” he said. “This Judge Jackson might’ve gone there to defend them.”
“Judge Jackson voluntarily represented three terrorists in three cases,” Cotton complained to CNN. “And she called American soldiers war criminals. I have no patience for it.” Jackson, of course, did not call U.S. troops war criminals.
Those were the accusations that prompted Democratic National Committee Chair Jaime Harrison to call Cotton the “lowest of the low” and a “little maggot-infested man.”
Attacking the first Muslim American appeals court nominee
Cotton’s recent bigoted attacks on Adeel A. Mangi, the first-ever Muslim American federal appeals court nominee, also made headlines when he subjected the Pakistani-born attorney to a barrage of Islamophobic questions about the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel, al-Qaida’s 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center, policy issues regarding the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories, and antisemitism in general.
Cotton bragged about his harassment of Mangi on X (formerly Twitter), crowing about his “gotcha” question trying to paint Mangi as antisemitic. Which is ironic, given Cotton’s previous antisemitic tweet history.
Blocking nominees of color
Cotton has a history of opposing Democratic presidents’ Black and brown nominees. From 2014 through 2016, Cotton blocked President Barack Obama’s friend and nominee Cassandra Butts—a Black woman—from an ambassador job. Why? When Butts met with him about his block, she told The New York Times’ Frank Bruni, Cotton admitted it was because “he knew that she was a close friend of Obama’s … and that blocking her was a way to inflict special pain on the president.” Butts died of cancer more than 800 days after her nomination.
Smearing a Singapore national
The senator proved himself an equal opportunity bigot in a recent Senate hearing on child safety and social media, repeatedly attacking TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew—a Singapore national—about his supposed personal connections to “the Chinese Communist Party.” Chew repeatedly denied Cotton’s obnoxious assertions, reiterating again and again, “I served my nation of Singapore.”
That didn’t stop Cotton from running to Fox News to smear Chew. “Singapore, unfortunately, is one of the places in the world that has the highest degree of infiltration and influence by the Chinese Communist Party,” he said. “So, Mr. Chew has a lot to answer for, for what his app is doing in America and why it’s doing it.”
Defending slavery
Of course, Cotton’s racist theatrics haven’t been confined to Senate hearings. He authored legislation in 2020 to ban public schools from using a curriculum based on The New York Times’ 1619 Project, which dissected slavery’s impact on our country’s founding. He justified his bill by calling The 1619 Project “left-wing propaganda” and revisionist history at its worst.”
Cotton added that children should instead be taught that slavery “was the necessary evil upon which the union was built.”
National security sabotoge
When he wasn’t harassing people of color during hearings, Cotton also dabbled in national security sabotage, interfering in Obama’s negotiations with Iran on their nuclear capabilities. Cotton spearheaded a letter from GOP senators to Iranian leaders telling them that even if they came to an agreement with the U.S., future administrations and/or Congress could renege on it.
That infamous New York Times op-ed
And don’t forget Cotton’s gross New York Times op-ed titled “Send In The Troops,” which called for Donald Trump to invoke the Insurrection Act and use “an overwhelming show of force” against protesters who took to the streets nationwide in the wake of George Floyd’s murder at the hands of police. The column incited fierce backlash, which led to backpedaling from The New York Times and the opinion page editor’s resignation.
None of this will diminish Cotton’s prospects with Trump, who likes him because he’s a smart guy with an elite education. Also, he’s a reliable sycophant.
Cotton has refused to condemn Trump’s love of Vladimir Putin, and has bragged about how he ignored the evidence and arguments in Trump’s first impeachment.
“My aides delivered a steady flow of papers and photocopied books, hidden underneath a fancy cover sheet labeled ‘Supplementary Impeachment Materials’, so nosy reporters sitting above us in the Senate gallery couldn’t see what I was reading,” Cotton wrote in his 2022 memoir.
Everything about Cotton appeals to Trump—and everything about him will revolt voters.
We’re heading across the pond for this week’s episode of “The Downballot” after the UK just announced it would hold snap elections—on July 4, no less. Co-host David Beard gives us Yanks a full run-down, including how the elections will work, what the polls are predicting, and what Labour plans to do if it finally ends 14 years of Conservative rule. We also take detours into Scotland and Rwanda (believe it or not) and bear down on a small far-right party that could cost the Tories dearly.
I did not understand how a simple flag once flown by George Washington became such a symbol of dominance and hate, until I read this article. Hugs. Scottie
At the Save America Rally on Jan. 6 in Washington, D.C., a white flag printed with a bright green pine tree, reading the words, “An Appeal to Heaven,” flew alongside popular right-wing flags. In the crowds of thousands, flags such the yellow Gadsden (“Don’t Tread on Me”) and the Revolutionary War-era Betsy Ross flag (a symbol that has been used in racist contexts) stood out amidst scores of Trump 2020 and traditional American flags.
Trump supporters near the U.S. Capitol on January 06, 2021 in…
Trump supporters near the U.S. Capitol on January 06, 2021 in Washington, DC. The protesters stormed the historic…
But the Pine Tree flag had particular significance at the Capitol riots. According to the book, “The American Flag: An Encyclopedia of the Stars and Stripes in U.S. History, Culture, and Law,” it was an early Revolutionary War era battle flag that took the phrase, “An Appeal to Heaven,” from John Locke’s arguments against the divine right of kings. Back then, the flag was meant to symbolize the right of armed revolution in the face of tyranny. The book, “Standards and Colors of the American Revolution” reports that it was flown by a small squadron of warships under George Washington’s command.
As of 2013, though, the flag was adopted as the emblem of South Carolina-based preacher Dutch Sheets’ Christian initiative aimed at “gathering a network of fellow believers serving Christ in public office” across the U.S. The initiative is aptly named, “An Appeal to Heaven.” Sheets also published a book with the same title and travels all over the country promoting his movement, posting daily prayer sessions to his more than two hundred thousand followers on YouTube. According to Baylor University communications professor, Leslie Hahner, the “Appeal to Heaven” movement’s tenets contain overtones of both Christian Nationalism and Christian Dominionism.
“Christian Nationalism,” she explained, “is a set of ideological beliefs expressed by [some] white, evangelical Christians. Their beliefs champion the U.S. as a Christian nation, as one that is ordained by God. It’s often connected to, if not an outright embodiment of, ideologies of white supremacy.”
Sheets and his supporters are concerned with spreading their ideology among elected representatives across the country. In October 2020, Sheets tweeted a picture of himself with the Pine Tree flag at the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia, where he was “decreeing America’s reset.”
Source: Twitter
Hahner notes that, “Christian Dominionism is a set of beliefs and practices [that] often manifest through a smaller sect of white, evangelical Christians and some sections of Catholicism.” According to Hahner, followers of Christian Dominionism, many of whom are supporters of former Pres. Trump, believe that “God gave [them] the [United States]…and that God’s battle with Satan is currently playing out in the arena of politics and elsewhere.” In that way, she says, “Dominionism suggests that white supremacy manifests through God’s hand.”
Sheets’s supporters photographing themselves with the flag outside the Missouri State Capitol. Source: Twitter
Sheets’ “Appeal to Heaven” movement is but one example of a marked rise in Christian Nationalism in the U.S., according to both experts in the field and my research for the Tow Center’s VizPol tool. The tool helps journalists identify unfamiliar political symbols, their contexts and their associations, particularly at protests. I co-wrote an article about the symbols and flags present at the U.S. Capitol riots on Jan. 6 — and their meanings — using the VizPol tool. In the analysis of the day, we found that several other symbols, including those with secessionist, Norse, and neo-Confederate connotations, evoked the sentiment that participants saw themselves as waging an all-out war. In their storming of the Capitol, rioters seemed to believe that they were preserving their white supremacist version of the United States. Similarly, bearers of the Pine Tree flag at the “Save America” rally seemed to be attempting to further their own Christian Nationalist agenda. Taken in this light, the Pine Tree flag can be seen as a symbol of the fight to elevate the influence of biblical law in American society.
According to Hahner, the Pine Tree flag is also flown by eco-fascists and tech accelerationists, but in a different context than that of Christian Nationalists and Christian Dominionists. Further, the Pine Tree flag associated with Christian Nationalism shouldn’t be confused with the Revolutionary War Era Bunker Hill flag. This flag also contains a pine tree and was flown at the Capitol insurrection, but its meaning differs from that of the “Appeal to Heaven” iteration.
In an article about violent Christian Nationalism on display at the storming of the Capitol, Jack Jenkins wrote that the Pine Tree flag “has become a banner for Christian Nationalism.” Quoting Andrew Whitehead, a sociology professor at Indiana University, Jenkins said that the sentiment represented by the flag (a call to revolution) is common in evangelical circles:
“‘Christian Nationalism really tends to draw on kind of an Old Testament narrative, a kind of blood purity and violence where the Christian nation needs to be defended against the outsiders,’” Whitehead said. “‘It really is identity-based and tribal, where there’s an us-versus-them.’”
While Sheets’ movement and its appropriation of the Pine Tree flag are tied to both extreme political arms of Christianity, Christian Nationalism differs from Christian Dominionism in a few key ways. For one, according to Prof. Hahner of Baylor, the dominionist movement in its current form only became popular recently. “Nationalism is more mainstream, while Dominionism is the deeper belief.Some aspects of Dominionism hold that demons are literally embodying the U.S. left, and that there is a holy war that the right must engage. So, Dominionism and Nationalism have become an à la carte menu that circulates and props up oppressive and genocidal beliefs,” Hahner said..Hell
In an article the day before the Capitol riots, Bellingcat argued that the lines between various far-right movements, including QAnon, the Proud Boys, general Trump supporters, and explicitly neo-Nazi groups were blurring. They reported that the movements were coalescing together into a united front by examining the increasing incidence of neo-Nazi symbols among political demonstrations in D.C. leading up to Jan 6th. The events were organized by far-right groups who have historically been less associated with neo-Nazism. In a similar vein, it is worth examining where else the Pine Tree flag has been used.
Flags and symbols like the Pine Tree flag aren’t always used in uniform or straightforward ways. And as Christian Nationalism is more mainstream than Christian Dominionism, some might use the flag that is associated with the dominionist movement without knowingly subscribing to deeper dominionist beliefs. But before its appearance at the riots and storming of the Capitol in January, the flag has been known to be used by religious conservatives in the Republican Party.
After attending the “Save America” rally on Jan. 6, a Republican state senator from Pennsylvania, Doug Mastriano, released a Facebook Live video speaking in front of the Pine Tree flag. It appears behind him in an interview with conservative television network Newsmax (Newsmax repeatedly promoted baseless claims about voter fraud in the 2020 Presidential Election). The cover photo of his self-described personal Facebook page is also the Pine Tree flag.
Source: Facebook
Source: Facebook
Masitrano has a history of pushing legislation with ties to religious beliefs.He co-introduced a “heartbeat bill” in Pennsylvania (which would make abortion upon detection of a fetal heartbeak illegal) along with a fellow Republican in the state legislature, Rep. Stephanie Borowicz. Her Facebook cover photo is a picture of the same flag flying in the Pennsylvania state capitol.
Source: Facebook
The flag was flown over the Illinois State Capitol in March 2019 to promote an upcoming “National Day of Prayer,” a seemingly government-sponsored religious activity (first signed into law by Ronald Reagan in 1988). Illinois Republican state representative Chris Miller was photographed alongside it at the same event. Miller is the husband of Mary Miller, a recently elected Illinois congresswoman who courted controversy this year for making a speech in which she invoked Adolf Hitler.
Arkansas Republican state senator Jason Rapert is also frequentlyphotographed with the flag. Rapert is the founder and president of the Christian ministry, Holy Ghost Ministries, and of the conservative group, National Association of Christian Lawmakers, whose stated aims are to, “bring lawmakers together in support of clear biblical principles.” He often adds the hashtag #AppealToHeaven to his social media posts, like in this homophobic tweet aimed at Pete Buttigieg. In 2019, Rapert was a guest speaker at one of Dutch Sheets’ “Appeal to Heaven” conferences.
Source: Holy Ghost Ministries Website
Former Pres. Trump has been associated with the flag, too. At the annual Conservative Political Action Conference in 2017, it was seen flying behind him during a speech. Sheets noticed and celebrated this on Twitter. In October 2020, Trump attended a service at the International Church of Las Vegas, where pastor Marc Goulet unveiled the flag while making a speech praising Trump and his policies. Trump later tweeted the moment.
Source: Internet Archive
Goulet’s gesture was then trumpeted by Joey Gibson, founder of the far-right group, Patriot Prayer, which often collaborates with the Proud Boys in the Pacific Northwest. In the post, Gibson dissects the political significance of the Pine Tree flag being presented at a Christian pro-Trump event.
Source: Twitter
But the use of the flag as a political symbol of Christianity isn’t limited to elected officials. In 2015, it was flown outside the U.S. Supreme Court at a rally organized by conservative groups attempting to stop the court from legalizing same-sex marriage.
Source: Tweet by Steven Holtze, president of the Conservative Republicans of Texas PAC
In 2016, it appeared during a deadly standoff in Oregon, when armed militias and other anti-government activists occupied the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge for weeks. When one of the group’s leaders, Ammon Bundy, was charged with felonies related to the standoff, his supporters gathered outside the federal courthouse in Portland, Pine Tree flags in tow. Portland-based Photographer David Krug tweeted at least twoinstances of the flag at the Bundy trial protest. (Bundy was later acquitted.)
Source: David Krug, Twitter
Last year, at least one person carried it at a Jan. 20 Richmond gun rights rally at the Virginia State Capitol building, which an estimated twenty-two thousand people attended. It was also present at the very first anti-lockdown protest on April 15 in Lansing, Michigan, where about a dozen heavily armed members of the Michigan Liberty Militia also showed up. The flag was spotted at subsequent anti-lockdown protests throughout the country.
People drive toward the Capitol building to express their unhappiness…
People drive toward the Capitol building to express their unhappiness with Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s Stay Safe, Stay…
The flag has also cropped up at neo-fascist events.In October of last year, extremism researcher JJ MacNab noted that it was flown by a member of the Proud Boys at a Proud Boys rally in Ohio.
Source: JJ MacNab, Twitter
The flag crops up in Christian circles other than Sheets’ “Appeal to Heaven” movement, too. It was seen flying at the National Mall at an October anti-lockdown “Worship Protest,” which called for the reopening of churches.
In 2021, four days before the events at the Capitol, the flag was prominently featured at an “Appeal to Heaven” rally in Greenville, South Carolina. Speakers and protestors had gathered to advance Christian interests and representation in politics. The tone was openly Christian Nationalist, with one speaker declaring that “we have designed [the United States] after [God]”.
Source: Fox Carolina News, Facebook
On Jan. 5 at Freedom Plaza, the day before the deadly events at the Capitol, it was flown conspicuously behind the stage where various speakers had gathered for a pro-Trump rally and set of speeches.
Source: Aaron Rupar, Twitter
The flag continued to show up even after the Capitol riots. On Jan. 15, Barrett Gay, an independent journalist who reports on fascism, tweeted photos of members of the neo-Nazi group, NSC-131, showing off a stolen riot helmet decorated with two flags: a parody of an antifascist flag and the Pine Tree flag.
Source: Barrett Gay, Twitter
It’s impossible to know whether all of the above uses of this flag were explicitly intended to be in support of Christian Nationalism or Christian Dominionism. But given its association with Sheets’ overtly Christian Nationalist and Christian Dominionist “Appeal to Heaven” movement, its presence at the Christian Nationalist “Appeal to Heaven” rally in Greenville, and its abundance at the Capitol insurrection amidst many believers of Christian Nationalism, clearly the flag has some association with these movements. And instances of elected officials who pursue a conservative religious agenda such as Pennsylvania state senator Doug Mastriano peddling the flag bolsters this association.
With this in mind, it is particularly illuminating to see the Christian-associated Pine Tree flag at events across the far-right and neo-fascist political spectrums. The presence of this flag at far-right demonstrations, as well as alongside certain members of the Republican Party (at least one of whom, Arkansas state senator Jason Rapert, openly associates with the “Appeal to Heaven” preacher Dutch Sheets) is a sign that Christian Nationalists and Christian Dominionists might have allies across the gamut of far-right-wing politics. This idea has been proposed by severaloutlets in the aftermath of the Capitol riots. And though in these contexts it could be less of a symbol of Christian Nationalism and more of an expression of the fight to preserve these movements’ conception of America (like other Revolutionary War era symbols were), the prevalence of the Pine Tree flag could be viewed as a dog-whistle signaling kinship between these far-right and white supremacist movements and the Christian Nationalist and Christian Dominionist movements.
Scottie's Playtime 